Essex Property Trust (ESS) Competitors

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) and Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and community ranking.

Which has more risk & volatility, AVB or ESS?

AvalonBay Communities has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Essex Property Trust has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AVB or ESS more profitable?

Essex Property Trust has a net margin of 41.79% compared to AvalonBay Communities' net margin of 37.13%. Essex Property Trust's return on equity of 13.05% beat AvalonBay Communities' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AvalonBay Communities	37.13%	9.15%	5.15%
Essex Property Trust	41.79%	13.05%	5.82%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer AVB or ESS?

Essex Property Trust received 54 more outperform votes than AvalonBay Communities when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 60.11% of users gave AvalonBay Communities an outperform vote while only 56.16% of users gave Essex Property Trust an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
AvalonBay Communities	Outperform Votes 675 60.11%	Underperform Votes 448 39.89%
Essex Property Trust	Outperform Votes 729 56.16%	Underperform Votes 569 43.84%

Does the media refer more to AVB or ESS?

In the previous week, AvalonBay Communities had 4 more articles in the media than Essex Property Trust. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for AvalonBay Communities and 21 mentions for Essex Property Trust. Essex Property Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.36 beat AvalonBay Communities' score of 1.22 indicating that Essex Property Trust is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AvalonBay Communities	16 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Essex Property Trust	16 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better valuation & earnings, AVB or ESS?

AvalonBay Communities has higher revenue and earnings than Essex Property Trust. Essex Property Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AvalonBay Communities, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AvalonBay Communities	$2.91B	9.79	$1.08B	$7.59	26.40
Essex Property Trust	$1.77B	9.93	$741.52M	$11.54	23.73

Is AVB or ESS a better dividend stock?

AvalonBay Communities pays an annual dividend of $7.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Essex Property Trust pays an annual dividend of $10.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. AvalonBay Communities pays out 92.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Essex Property Trust pays out 89.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Essex Property Trust has raised its dividend for 31 consecutive years. Essex Property Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of AVB or ESS?

92.6% of AvalonBay Communities shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.5% of Essex Property Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of AvalonBay Communities shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.8% of Essex Property Trust shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts prefer AVB or ESS?

AvalonBay Communities currently has a consensus price target of $237.47, suggesting a potential upside of 18.51%. Essex Property Trust has a consensus price target of $307.11, suggesting a potential upside of 12.14%. Given AvalonBay Communities' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe AvalonBay Communities is more favorable than Essex Property Trust.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AvalonBay Communities	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Essex Property Trust	1 Sell rating(s)	12 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.30

Summary

Essex Property Trust beats AvalonBay Communities on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.